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Reviews
Prison Break: Killing Your Number (2009)
So disappointing.
Well, I am shocked. What an anti-climax.
I have never seen such forced writing, action or plot elements to end a story than in this debacle of an ending.
For a show that in the first season had you seriously concerned and tense for the characters and their predicament, it never seemed likely the bad guys would win. Some old characters would resurface from nowhere like a deus ex machina to save the day. Lincoln survives for god knows how long after being shot.
Sarah, who moans about Michael pointing guns at people ends up shooting someone.
Schofield and Sarahs relationship is so sterile i doubt they could ever of had sex - I have never even seen them kiss. They just hug and look worried on each others shoulders. Ridiculous.
I personally started disliking prison break after series 2 - season four has been a complete waste of time. If they were going to do it, they should of done it correctly. Its bad storytelling, bad writing, bad acting, the reduction of good characters to ones that haven't developed at all from the second series.
Poor. So so poor. Its a shame. Move on to The Wire people, much more of a complete show.
WALL·E (2008)
Heavyweight Storytelling...Heavyweight Animation...Heavyweight People...
I must say, I found the cute sincerity of this movie quite affecting. Not only does it manage to have a 'message', it does the really important thing of never seeming like it is preaching to you. A lot of the efforts of Hollywood recently have decided to treat the audience as complete and utter imbeciles who need instructions about whats good and bad shoved down their throats. For many people (e.g. movie goers who gave batman 9 or above) this is the case. Its nice to see that CHILDREN'S ANIMATIONS are now becoming less patronising. Or is it? I don't know.
AS a quick side note; Why is it that when ever you begin a conversation about this film, someone has to do an impression of how wall-e says his own name. It could just be me experiencing this, but its really irritating.
On with the review. This film was quite remarkable. I thought Pixar had lost their way a bit in other efforts that they had recently produced, but this is just fantastic.
The two main characters do not speak anything other than their names most of the time. This means everything is suggestion or body language(do robots have bodies?). I think the idea to limit dialogue and make everything this way really made the film superb. It reminded me of Keaton and Chaplin silent movie days - some of the expressions and body movements from the robots. The animation for this, making a robot seem real and have *body language* was really something else, something never really done in animation before. It was excellent.
The script, which is what Pixar impress me most with continually, was again top notch. I could have easily watched Wall-e doing his first five minutes alone for the remainder of the film, such was the pleasant comedy of the scripting. There wasn't much dialogue, but what there was, was well done.
There were some keenly observed jokes, which anyone of any age would enjoy. The cleaning robot's 'punch' line was fantastic. Really really good.
There was a nice reference to HAL from 2001 in the ships power hungry computer, which older audiences are likely to appreciate.
Overall a great great movie that will do what you want it to do. It wont live in your memory as an all time classic, but it is well worth the entry fee for the entertainment i got out of it. I'd definitely see it again.
8*10
The Dark Knight (2008)
Erm...really? (may be a couple of spoilers)
Wow. Once again my faith in the rational persons ability to discriminate between depth and breadth, is verified, in that I have none.
The film was long. Not deep. I think there is a misunderstanding. The film had the veneer of an epic film. It had all the right elements to be an epic comic-book adaptation to screen. Yet it faltered, mainly because everyone was so wrapped up in the idea of Ledger giving a career defining performance, they couldn't see past it. It's almost as if they accepted the brilliance of his performance before they entered the theatre, off of the back of the hype and the critics reviews, and all that was left was to actually watch it and be able to validate this belief.
Disregarding Heath Ledgers untimely death, can you really say that he was a better Joker than Jack Nicholsons? I for one, cannot. Others have already said it; he had no back story. A character without a past and a motive - especially when they are a killer - is just not one that is appropriate to a story about good and evil. The things we like about villains is that we can relate to the reasons they do the things they do, whilst asking ourselves whether their reasons are justified. We get into a dialogue, and we ourselves get to decide who we side with - the good or the bad. This villain left me feeling flat and unfulfilled because he had no real motive, - making it impossible to choose which argument, good or bad, I sided with - and left me feeling like I was a voyeur, watching a guy kill loads of people.
Everyone has been raving about the script, which I thought was plain dreadful at points. Others have raised the questions here. What was with his voice? He would make a great nursery nurse. The poignant moment on the boat when the sailor said something to the effect of "They haven't pushed the button yet, because we are still alive" was just plain embarrassing. The fact that Batman kept leaving in the middle of a conversation became irritating instead of cool and enigmatic. Why can't he just hear someone out. And at the end when batman runs home like Charlie, I was nearly dying in laughter. I could hear the music 'I've got a golden ticket'. There were other embarrassing script moments, but because the film was so bad, I can't even be bothered to mention them. The phone device for one was utter...
The rhetoric of the characters in their oratorical moments was again, limp. It was as if the writer had started a sadistic, flowing evil speech, but had not had the tools with which to really elaborate. Because he had decided to keep the Jokers background exclusive, the speeches were neither funny or scary. They were punctured and lacked conviction.
The fact that this is the number one movie is embarrassing. IMDb should take it off out of principle. If this wins an Oscar, I will never watch a Hollywood movie again.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
A story worth savouring...
In a Hollywood climate where romantic films take on the same motif as the predecessors that went before, a breath of fresh air is an understatement to what this film is. This is more than a film. It takes a look at how relationships nowadays pan out. It is so honest and so movingly real that you begin to forget its a film, and think back to all the past relationships you had where you said what Joel or Clementine said, or the situations they get in as a couple.
There is such a moving storyline. Joel (Jim Carey, who i believe should be best remembered for this) is such an affecting character by being so modest and genuine. When Clementine first takes him back to her place, the way in which he says he has nothing to say, and that he is not that interesting - the self deprecation is not only touching, but also vitally poignant, as it highlights how many men i know feel about talking to women. The intimidation and crippling shyness is a huge obstacle, and only in this film have i ever seen it portrayed with any real conviction.
Im not going to tell you how the film runs, scene by scene, or give you the plot outline, as this would be a dis-justice to a film that needs to be watched and appreciated, and moreover deserves to be.
I doubt any film will ever speak to you about relationships like this one does. It tells it how it is, relationships in our generation - the fear of being alone, love, wanting to forget the bad partners. But it is all done with such tact and elegance, that you rarely feel bad for the state of affairs.
I cant recommend this movie highly enough.
10/10